Chapter 477: We’re All Capitalists Here
Solomon was a man shrouded in mist—Wanda could never quite grasp his true motives.
But at least he treated her and Pietro decently, and in her opinion, it was almost unbelievable that someone so powerful had this much patience.
In fact, she even felt relaxed in his presence.
His occasional dry humor was surprisingly entertaining.
It reminded her of that one nosy old lady neighbor—the kind who wore gold-rimmed glasses, baked cakes everyone loved, and drowned herself in thick layers of perfume to mask the scent of age.
The kind who would smile warmly at you but mercilessly yank your ear if you broke one of her garden gnome statues or accidentally knocked over her Christmas tree's plastic gold star.
Wanda wanted to know where Solomon kept his "garden gnomes".
She had no intention of making an enemy of him.
But Solomon refused to tell her anything.
She knew he was keeping secrets.
The only thing she had managed to piece together was that a girl named Lorna Dane was somehow part of his plan.
But who was she?
What was her role?
Wanda had no idea.
Not that she had the time to pursue the matter—because Solomon had once again dangled the word revenge in front of her, redirecting her focus back to training.
---
Tony Stark made for an excellent enemy—
He was a walking, talking reminder of her hatred.
But per Solomon's instructions, Wanda forced herself to control her anger, remain calm, and continue learning.
At the very least, her Mars excursion had refocused her on the curriculum Solomon had laid out for her.
What she didn't know was that immediately after bidding her farewell, Solomon went straight to Tony Stark.
---
Solomon's sudden arrival disrupted Stark's daily life.
And he came for one reason only—
To get his hands on Stark Industries' military sales records.
Solomon did not believe that the missile that destroyed Wanda's home had been illegally smuggled.
That high-tech weapon, capable of carrying a miniature nuclear warhead, was far too advanced for any black-market arms dealer to handle.
Sure, the White House had no problem selling light weapons to its chosen rebel factions.
But cutting-edge technology?
That never made it out.
Just look at the terrorist groups in the Middle East.
They were still using rusty old firearms, WWII-era artillery, and the same RPG launchers they had for decades.
Not a single piece of high-tech military equipment ever reached their hands.
Solomon had already identified the serial number of the missile that hit Sokovia.
Now, he needed Stark's records to find out who had purchased it.
But he already had a strong suspicion—
That missile had likely been sold directly to the U.S. military.
And Obadiah Stane, Stark Industries' former executive, had probably acted as a middleman, laundering the deal to secure lucrative government contracts.
This would also explain why the U.S. military insisted on purchasing Stark Industries' overpriced weapons instead of the cheaper alternatives from Hammer Industries.
---
Because the truth was simple—
The military higher-ups were taking their cut.
Obadiah offered the Pentagon inflated prices.
And in return, the entire chain of command got to dip their hands in the profits.
This was the real reason why American soldiers, despite being treated as fourth-class citizens, were still equipped with gear far superior to anything their enemies had.
After all, their main job was just harassing civilians—they didn't need top-of-the-line weapons.
But corrupt officials needed their kickbacks.
And Stark Industries' inflated prices provided the perfect excuse.
A single competent auditor could have exposed everything.
Yet for years, this system remained undisturbed.
Which meant that the Pentagon and Stark Industries had a mutual understanding.
And this only fell apart when Tony Stark, in a moment of naive idealism, shut down the weapons division.
His sudden shift to clean energy had shattered the arrangement.
But thanks to Pepper Potts' financial maneuvering, Stark Industries had poured money into military R&D projects, gradually repairing its relationship with the U.S. government.
At this point, Colonel Rhodes was the only excuse the military had left to maintain friendly ties with Stark Industries.
But that relationship was far weaker than before.
Because who knew when Tony Stark might have another "moral awakening"?
---
"J.A.R.V.I.S., pull up Stark Industries' military sales records."
Solomon walked straight out of a portal and immediately demanded the data.
Stark's non-lethal security systems activated—
Only for all electronic devices in the lab to suddenly power down.
A brilliant blue energy wave pulsed outward from Solomon, cutting off everything except J.A.R.V.I.S., who briefly malfunctioned from data overload.
"Whoa, whoa! What the hell was that?!"
Tony Stark hadn't expected Solomon to barge in unannounced—and even less so for him to disable his entire lab.
But the arcanist had no time for small talk.
He explained the situation succinctly, and Stark agreed to grant him access.
In truth, Stark himself was curious—
Where exactly had Obadiah Stane been selling those weapons?
This was a defining moment for Tony Stark.
He first admitted his past mistakes.
Then, he acknowledged that Solomon's theory was plausible.
"If you find any survivors..."
"Let me know."
"I'll compensate them."
Stark's expression was heavy.
---
"You know why I like you, Stark?"
Solomon tapped two fingers against Stark's arc reactor, mimicking the shape of a tiny gap.
"It's because you don't call your employees in the middle of the night to demand overtime or last-minute changes."
"And because, despite being a capitalist, you still have a shred of conscience."
"Just a tiny bit. Not much."
"I'm not insulting you—your position in life simply doesn't allow you to care about ordinary people."
"You could save a thousand lives during a disaster, but it wouldn't compare to you allocating a fraction of your wealth to improve society."
Seeing Stark's expression darken, Solomon pressed on.
"I'm not talking about charity funds—we both know those are just tax shelters."
"I know exactly how much you paid in taxes last year."
"Even the mafia pays more than you."
"And that's the tragedy of capitalism—where people's survival depends on the generosity of billionaires."
"Alright, alright, can you stop criticizing me for once?"
"I don't think making money is a crime!"
"At least I'm in manufacturing—why are you making me sound like some Wall Street parasite?"
"Because I recently joined Wall Street myself."
Solomon grinned.
"Not the official one—the underground one."
"Speaking of which..."
"You should tweet something about crypto in a few days."
"I just bought in at the perfect dip."
---
"Which one?"
"I wanna get in on this too."
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